Methods and systems for processing instant messenger messages

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for processing instant messenger messages are described. In one embodiment, an instant messenger event is captured by compiling event data associated with at least one instant messenger message, the instant messenger event is associated with a conversation, and at least some of the event data associated with the instant messenger event is indexed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to search engines. More particularly,the invention relates to methods and systems for processing instantmessenger messages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Users generate and access a large number of articles, such as emails,web pages, word processing documents, spreadsheet documents, instantmessenger messages, and presentation documents, using a client device,such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, or mobilephone. Some articles are stored on one or more storage devices coupledto, accessible by, or otherwise associated with the client device(s).Users sometimes wish to search the storage device(s) for articles.

Conventional client-device search applications may significantly degradethe performance of the client device. For example, certain conventionalclient-device search applications typically use batch processing toindex all articles, which can result in noticeably slower performance ofthe client device during the batch processing. Additionally, batchprocessing occurs only periodically. Therefore, when a user performs asearch, the most recent articles are sometimes not included in theresults. Moreover, if the batch processing is scheduled for a time whenthe client device is not operational and is thus not performed for anextended period of time, the index of articles associated with theclient device can become outdated. Conventional client-device searchapplications can also need to rebuild the index at each batch processingor build new partial indexes and perform a merge operation that can usea lot of client-device resources. Conventional client-device searchapplications also sometimes use a great deal of system resources whenoperational, resulting in slower performance of the client device.

Generally, conventional search engines do not index instant messengermessages and/or allow a user to search instant messenger messages. Someapplications exist that store and/or log a user's instant messages, butthese applications generally do not index the user's instant messengermessages.

Additionally, conventional client-device search applications can requirean explicit search query from a user to generate results, and may belimited to file names or the contents of a particular application'sfiles.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems forprocessing instant messenger messages. In one embodiment, an instantmessenger event is captured by compiling event data associated with atleast one instant messenger message, the instant messenger event isassociated with a conversation, and at least some of the event dataassociated with the instant messenger event is indexed. In oneembodiment, a search query is received, and the conversation isidentified as relevant to the search query. In one embodiment, capturingthe instant message event can comprise identifying instant messengeractivity associated with an instant messenger application on a clientdevice, identifying the instant messenger event, and compiling theinstant messenger event from at least some of the event data.

These exemplary embodiments are mentioned not to limit or define theinvention, but to provide examples of embodiments of the invention toaid understanding thereof. Exemplary embodiments are discussed in theDetailed Description, and further description of the invention isprovided there. Advantages offered by the various embodiments of thepresent invention may be further understood by examining thisspecification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention are better understood when the following Detailed Descriptionis read with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary environment in which oneembodiment of the present invention may operate;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of capturingand processing event data associated with a client device in oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of capturingan instant messenger event in one embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of indexing aninstant messenger event in one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals indicate likeelements throughout the several figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagramillustrating an exemplary environment for implementation of anembodiment of the present invention. While the environment shown in FIG.1 reflects a client-side search engine architecture embodiment, otherembodiments are possible. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includesmultiple client devices 102 a-n that can communicate with a serverdevice 150 over a network 106. The network 106 shown in FIG. 1 comprisesthe Internet. In other embodiments, other networks, such as an intranet,may be used instead. Moreover, methods according to the presentinvention may operate within a single client device that does notcommunicate with a server device or a network.

The client devices 102 a-n shown in FIG. 1 each include a computerreadable medium 108. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a randomaccess memory (RAM) 108 coupled to a processor 110. The processor 110executes computer-executable program instructions stored in memory 108.Such processors may include a microprocessor, an ASIC, state machines,or other processor, and can be any of a number of suitable computerprocessors, such as processors from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara,Calif. and Motorola Corporation of Schaumburg, Ill. Such processorsinclude, or may be in communication with, media, for examplecomputer-readable media, which stores instructions that, when executedby the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps describedherein. Embodiments of computer-readable media include, but are notlimited to, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage ortransmission device capable of providing a processor, such as theprocessor 110 of client 102 a, with computer-readable instructions.Other examples of suitable media include, but are not limited to,storage media (e.g., a floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic disk, memorychip, ROM, RAM, an ASIC, a configured processor, all optical media, allmagnetic tape or other magnetic media, or any other medium from which acomputer processor can read instructions). Also, various other forms ofcomputer-readable media may transmit or carry instructions to acomputer, including a router, private or public network, or othertransmission device or channel, both wired and wireless. Theinstructions may comprise code from any suitable computer-programminglanguage, including, for example, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Java,Python, Perl, and JavaScript.

Client devices 102 a-n can be coupled to a network 106, oralternatively, can be stand alone machines. Client devices 102 a-n mayalso include a number of external or internal devices such as a mouse, aCD-ROM, DVD, a keyboard, a display device, or other input or outputdevices. Examples of client devices 102 a-n are personal computers,digital assistants, personal digital assistants, cellular phones, mobilephones, smart phones, pagers, digital tablets, laptop computers,Internet appliances, and other processor-based devices. In general, theclient devices 102 a-n may be any type of processor-based platform thatoperates on any suitable operating system, such as Microsoft® Windows®or Linux, capable of supporting one or more client application programs.For example, the client device 102 a can comprise a personal computerexecuting client application programs, also known as client applications120. The client applications 120 can be contained in memory 108 and caninclude, for example, a word processing application, a spreadsheetapplication, an email application, an instant messenger application, apresentation application, an Internet browser application, acalendar/organizer application, a video playing application, an audioplaying application, an image display application, a file managementprogram, an operating system shell, and other applications capable ofbeing executed by a client device. Client applications may also includeclient-side applications that interact with or accesses otherapplications (such as, for example, a web-browser executing on theclient device 102 a that interacts with a remote e-mail server to accesse-mail).

The user 112 a can interact with the various client applications 120 andarticles associated with the client applications 120 via various inputand output devices of the client device 102 a. Articles include, forexample, word processor documents, spreadsheet documents, presentationdocuments, emails, instant messenger messages, database entries,calendar entries, appointment entries, task manager entries, source codefiles, and other client application program content, files, messages,items, web pages of various formats, such as HTML, XML, XHTML, PortableDocument Format (PDF) files, and media files, such as image files, audiofiles, and video files, or any other documents or items or groups ofdocuments or items or information of any suitable type whatsoever.

The user's 112 a interaction with articles, the client applications 120,and the client device 102 a creates event data that may be observed,recorded, analyzed or otherwise used. An event can be any occurrencepossible associated with an article, client application 120, or clientdevice 102 a, such as inputting text in an article, displaying anarticle on a display device, sending an article, receiving an article,manipulating an input device, opening an article, saving an article,printing an article, closing an article, opening a client applicationprogram, closing a client application program, idle time, processorload, disk access, memory usage, bringing a client application programto the foreground, changing visual display details of the application(such as resizing or minimizing) and any other suitable occurrenceassociated with an article, a client application program, or the clientdevice whatsoever. Additionally, event data can be generated when theclient device 102 a interacts with an article independent of the user112 a, such as when receiving an email or performing a scheduled task.

The memory 108 of the client device 102 a can also contain a captureprocessor 124, a queue 126, and a search engine 122. The client device102 a can also contain or is in communication with a data store 140. Thecapture processor 124 can capture events and pass them to the queue 126.The queue 126 can pass the captured events to the search engine 122 orthe search engine 122 can retrieve new events from the queue 126. In oneembodiment, the queue 126 notifies the search engine 122 when a newevent arrives in the queue 126 and the search engine 122 retrieves theevent (or events) from the queue 126 when the search engine 122 is readyto process the event (or events). When the search engine receives anevent it can be processed and can be stored in the data store 140. Thesearch engine 122 can receive an explicit query from the user 112 a orgenerate an implicit query and it can retrieve information from the datastore 140 in response to the query. In another embodiment, the queue islocated in the search engine 122. In still another embodiment, theclient device 102 a does not have a queue and the events are passed fromthe capture processor 124 directly to the search engine 122. Accordingto other embodiments, the event data is transferred using an informationexchange protocol. The information exchange protocol can comprise, forexample, any suitable rule or convention facilitating data exchange, andcan include, for example, any one of the following communicationmechanisms: Extensible Markup Language-Remote Procedure Calling protocol(XML/RPC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Object AccessProtocol (SOAP), shared memory, sockets, local or remote procedurecalling, or any other suitable information exchange mechanism.

The capture processor 124 can capture an event by identifying andcompiling event data associated with an event. Examples of eventsinclude sending or receiving an instant messenger message, a userviewing a web page, saving a word processing document, printing aspreadsheet document, inputting text to compose or edit an email,opening a presentation application, closing an instant messengerapplication, entering a keystroke, moving the mouse, and hovering themouse over a hyperlink. An example of event data captured by the captureprocessor 124 for an event involving the receipt of an instant messengermessage by the user 112 a can comprise the sender of the message, therecipients of the message, the time and date the message was received,the content of the message and a conversation ID. A conversation ID canbe used to associate messages that form a conversation and can beprovided by the instant messenger application or can be generated by thecapture processor 124. A conversation can be one or more messagesbetween the user 112 a and at least one other user until the user 112 alogs out of or closes the instant messenger application or the instantmessenger application is inactive for a certain period of time (forexample, 30 minutes).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the capture processor 124 comprisesmultiple capture components. For example, the capture processor 124shown in FIG. 1 comprises a separate capture component for each clientapplication in order to capture events associated with each application.The capture processor 124 can also comprises a separate capturecomponent that monitors overall network activity in order to captureevent data associated with network activity, such as the receipt orsending of an instant messenger message. The capture processor 124 shownin FIG. 1 also can comprise a separate client device capture componentthat monitors overall client device performance data, such as processorload, idle time, disk access, the client applications in use, and theamount of memory available. The capture processor 124 shown in FIG. 1also comprises a separate capture component to monitor and capturekeystrokes input by the user and a separate capture component to monitorand capture items, such as text, displayed on a display deviceassociated with the client device 102 a. An individual capture componentcan monitor multiple client applications and multiple capture componentscan monitor different aspects of a single client application.

In one embodiment, the capture processor 124, through the individualcapture components, can monitor activity on the client device and cancapture events by a generalized event definition and registrationmechanism, such as an event schema. Each capture component can defineits own event schema or can use a predefined one. Event schemas candiffer depending on the client application or activity the capturecomponent is monitoring. Generally, the event schema can describe theformat for an event, for example, by providing fields for event dataassociated with the event (such as the time of the event) and fieldsrelated to any associated article (such as the title) as well as thecontent of any associated article (such as the document body). An eventschema can describe the format for any suitable event data that relatesto an event. For example, an event schema for an instant messengermessage event sent by the user 112 a can include a recipient or list ofrecipients, the time sent, the date sent, content of the message, and aconversation ID. An event schema for a web page currently being viewedby a user can include the Uniform Resource Locator or URL of the webpage, the time being viewed, and the content of the web page. An eventschema for a word processing document being saved by a user can includethe title of the document, the time saved, the location of the document,the format of the document, the text of the document, and a pointer tothe location of the document. More generally, an event schema candescribe the state of the system around the time of the event. Forexample, an event schema can contain a URL for a web page eventassociated with a previous web page that the user navigated from. Inaddition, event schema can describe fields with more complicatedstructure like lists. For example, an event schema can contain fieldsthat list multiple recipients. An event schema can also contain optionalfields so that an application can include additional event data ifdesired.

The capture processor 124 can capture events occurring presently (or“real-time events”) and can capture events that have occurred in thepast (or “historical events”). Real-time events can be “indexable” or“non-indexable”. In one embodiment, the search engine 122 indexesindexable real-time events, but does not index non-indexable real-timeevents. The search engine 122 may determine whether to index an eventbased on the importance of the event. Indexable real-time events can bemore important events associated with an article, such as viewing a webpage, loading or saving a file, and receiving or sending an instantmessage or email. Non-indexable events can be deemed not importantenough by the search engine 122 to index and store the event, such asmoving the mouse or selecting a portion of text in an article.Non-indexable events can be used by the search engine 122 to update thecurrent user state. While all real-time events can relate to what theuser is currently doing (or the current user state), indexable real-timeevents can be indexed and stored in the data store 140. Alternatively,the search engine 122 can index all real-time events. Real-time eventscan include, for example, sending or receiving an article, such as aninstant messenger message, examining a portion of an article, such asselecting a portion of text or moving a mouse over a portion of a webpage, changing an article, such as typing a word in an email or pastinga sentence in a word processing document, closing an article, such asclosing an instant messenger display area or changing an email messagebeing viewed, loading, saving, opening, or viewing an article, such as aword processing document, web page, or email, listening to or saving anMP3 file or other audio/video file, or updating the metadata of anarticle, such as book marking a web page, printing a presentationdocument, deleting a word processing document, or moving a spreadsheetdocument.

Historical events are similar to indexable real-time events except thatthe event occurred before the installation of the search engine 122 orwas otherwise not captured, because, for example, the search engine 122was not operational for a period of time while the client device 102 awas operational or because no capture component existed for a specifictype of historical event at the time the event took place. Examples ofhistorical events include the user's saved word processing documents,media files, presentation documents, calendar entries, and spreadsheetdocuments, the emails in a user's inbox, and the web pages book markedby the user. The capture processor 124 can capture historical events byperiodically crawling the memory 108 and any associated data storagedevice for events not previously captured by the capture processor 124.The capture processor 124 can also capture historical events byrequesting certain client applications, such as a web browser or anemail application, to retrieve articles and other associatedinformation. For example, the capture processor 124 can request that theweb browser application obtain all viewed web pages by the user orrequest that the email application obtain all email messages associatedwith the user. These articles may not currently exist in memory 108 oron a storage device of the client device 102 a. For example, the emailapplication may have to retrieve emails from a server device. In oneembodiment, the search engine 122 indexes historical events.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, events captured by the captureprocessor 124 are sent to the queue 126 in the format described by anevent schema. The capture processor 124 can also send performance datato the queue 126. Examples of performance data include current processorload, average processor load over a predetermined period of time, idletime, disk access, the client applications in use, and the amount ofmemory available. Performance data can also be provided by specificperformance monitoring components, some of which may be part of thesearch engine 122, for example. The performance data in the queue 126can be retrieved by the search engine 122 and the capture components ofthe capture processor 124. For example, capture components can retrievethe performance data to alter how many events are sent to the queue 126or how detailed the events are that are sent (fewer or smaller eventswhen the system is busy) or how frequently events are sent (events aresent less often when the system is busy or there are too many eventswaiting to be processed). The search engine 122 can use performance datato determine when it indexes various events and when and how often itissues implicit queries.

In one embodiment, the queue 126 holds events until the search engine122 is ready to process an event or events. Alternatively, the queue 126uses the performance data to help determine how quickly to provide theevents to the search engine 122. The queue 126 can comprise one or moreseparate queues including a user state queue and an index queue. Theindex queue can queue indexable events, for example. Alternatively, thequeue 126 can have additional queues or comprise a single queue. Thequeue 126 can be implemented as a circular priority queue using memorymapped files. The queue can be a multiple-priority queue where higherpriority events are served before lower priority events, and othercomponents may be able to specify the type of events they are interestedin. Generally, real-time events can be given higher priority thanhistorical events, and indexable events can be given higher prioritythan non-indexable real-time events. Other implementations of the queue126 are possible. In another embodiment, the client device 102 a doesnot have a queue 126. In this embodiment, events are passed directlyfrom the capture processor 124 to the search engine 122. In otherembodiments, events can be transferred between the capture componentsand the search engine using suitable information exchange mechanismssuch as: Extensible Markup Language-Remote Procedure Calling protocol(XML/RPC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Object AccessProtocol (SOAP), shared memory, sockets, local or remote procedurecalling, or any other suitable information exchange mechanism.

The search engine 122 can contain an indexer 130, a query system 132,and a formatter 134. The query system 132 can retrieve all real-timeevents and performance data from the queue 126. The query system 132 canuse performance data and real-time events to update the current userstate and generate an implicit query. An implicit query can be anautomatically generated query based on the current user state. The querysystem 132 can also receive and process explicit queries from the user112 a. Performance data can also be retrieved by the search engine 122from the queue 126 for use in determining the amount of activitypossible by the search engine 122.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, indexable real-time events andhistorical events (indexable events) are retrieved from the queue 126 bythe indexer 130. Alternatively, the queue 126 may send the indexableevents to the indexer 130. The indexer 130 can index the indexableevents and can send them to the data store 140 where they are stored.The data store 140 can be any type of computer-readable media and can beintegrated with the client device 102 a, such as a hard drive, orexternal to the client device 102 a, such as an external hard drive oron another data storage device accessed through the network 106. Thedata store can be one or more logical or physical storage areas. In oneembodiment, the data store 140 can be in memory 108. The data store 140may facilitate one or combination of methods for storing data, includingwithout limitation, arrays, hash tables, lists, and pairs, and mayinclude compression and encryption. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1,the data store comprises an index 142, a database 144 and a repository146.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, when the indexer 130 receives anevent, the indexer 130 can determine, from the event schema, terms (ifany) associated with the event, the time of the event (if available),images (if any) associated with the event, and/or other informationdefining the event. The indexer 130 can also determine if the eventrelates to other events and associate the event with related events. Forexample, for a received instant messenger message event, the indexer canassociate the message event with other message events from the sameconversation. The messages from the same conversation can be associatedwith each other in a conversation object, which can be stored in thedata store 140.

The indexer 130 can send and incorporate the terms and times, associatedwith the event in the index 142 of the data store 140. The event can besent to the database 144 for storage and the content of the associatedarticle and any associated images can be stored in the repository 146.The conversation object associated with instant messenger messages canbe stored in the database 144.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a user 112 a can input an explicitquery into a search engine interface displayed on the client device 102a, which is received by the search engine 122. The search engine 122 canalso generate an implicit query based on a current user state, which canbe determined by the query system 132 from real-time events. Based onthe query, the query system 132 can locate relevant information in thedata store 140 and provide a result set. In one embodiment, the resultset comprises article identifiers for articles associated with theclient applications 120 or client articles. Client articles includearticles associated with the user 112 a or client device 102 a, such asthe user's emails, word processing documents, instant messengermessages, previously viewed web pages and any other article or portionof an article associated with the client device 102 a or user 112 a. Anarticle identifier may be, for example, a Uniform Resource Locator(URL), a file name, a link, an icon, a path for a local file, or othersuitable information that may identify an article. In anotherembodiment, the result set also comprises article identifiers forarticles located on the network 106 or network articles located by asearch engine on a server device. Network articles include articleslocated on the network 106 not previously viewed or otherwise referencedby the user 112 a, such as web pages not previously viewed by the user112 a.

The formatter 134 can receive the search result set from the querysystem 132 of the search engine 122 and can format the results foroutput to a display processor 128. In one embodiment, the formatter 134can format the results in XML, HTML, or tab delineated text. The displayprocessor 128 can be contained in memory 108 and can control the displayof the result set on a display device associated with the client device102 a. The display processor 128 may comprise various components. Forexample, in one embodiment, the display processor 128 comprises aHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server that receives requests forinformation and responds by constructing and transmitting HypertextMarkup Language (HTML) pages. In one such embodiment, the HTTP servercomprises a scaled-down version of the Apache Web server. The displayprocessor 128 can be associated with a set of APIs to allow variousapplications to receive the results and display them in various formats.The display APIs can be implemented in various ways, including as, forexample, DLL exports, COM interface, VB, JAVA, or .NET libraries, or asa web service.

Through the client devices 102 a-n, users 112 a-n can communicate overthe network 106, with each other and with other systems and devicescoupled to the network 106. As shown in FIG. 1, a server device 150 canbe coupled to the network 106. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, thesearch engine 122 can transmit a search query comprised of an explicitor implicit query or both to the server device 150. The user 112 a canalso enter a search query in a search engine interface, which can betransmitted to the server device 150 by the client device 102 a via thenetwork 106. In another embodiment, the query signal may instead be sentto a proxy server (not shown), which then transmits the query signal toserver device 150. Other configurations are also possible.

The server device 150 can include a server executing a search engineapplication program, such as the Google™ search engine. In otherembodiments, the server device 150 can comprise a related informationserver or an advertising server. Similar to the client devices 102 a-n,the server device 150 can include a processor 160 coupled to acomputer-readable memory 162. Server device 150, depicted as a singlecomputer system, may be implemented as a network of computer processors.Examples of a server device 150 are servers, mainframe computers,networked computers, a processor-based device, and similar types ofsystems and devices. The server processor 160 can be any of a number ofcomputer processors, such as processors from Intel Corporation of SantaClara, Calif. and Motorola Corporation of Schaumburg, Ill. In anotherembodiment, the server device 150 may exist on a client-device. In stillanother embodiment, there can be multiple server devices 150.

Memory 162 contains the search engine application program, also known asa network search engine 170. The search engine 170 can locate relevantinformation from the network 106 in response to a search query from aclient device 102 a. The search engine 170 then can provide a result setto the client device 102 a via the network 106. The result set cancomprise one or more article identifiers. An article identifier may be,for example, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a file name, a link, anicon, a path for a local file, or anything else that identifies anarticle. In one embodiment, an article identifier can comprise a URLassociated with an article.

In one embodiment, the server device 150, or related device, haspreviously performed a crawl of the network 106 to locate articles, suchas web pages, stored at other devices or systems coupled to the network106, and indexed the articles in memory 162 or on another data storagedevice. It should be appreciated that other methods for indexingarticles in lieu of or in combination with crawling may be used, such asmanual submission.

It should be noted that other embodiments of the present invention maycomprise systems having different architecture than that which is shownin FIG. 1. For example, in some other embodiments of the presentinvention, the client device 102 a is a stand-alone device and is notcoupled to a network. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is merelyexemplary, and is used to explain the exemplary methods shown in FIGS. 2through 4.

Various methods in accordance with embodiments of the present inventionmay be carried out. For example, in one embodiment, an instant messengerevent is captured by compiling event data associated with at least oneinstant messenger message, the instant messenger event is associatedwith a conversation, and at least some of the event data associated withthe instant messenger event is indexed. In one embodiment, a searchquery is received, and the conversation is identified as relevant to thesearch query.

In one embodiment, capturing the instant message event can compriseidentifying an activity associated with an instant messenger applicationon a client device, identifying the instant messenger event, andcompiling the instant messenger event from at least some of the eventdata. The event data can comprise one or more of sender data, recipientdata, a time associated with the event, a date associated with theevent, and content from the instant messenger message associated withthe event. Indexing at least some of the event data can compriseassociating an event ID with the event and associating the event ID withat least some of the event data. The instant messenger event is capturedon a client device or in another embodiment on a network device.

In one embodiment, the instant messenger event can be compiled upon thesending or receipt of an instant messenger message. The instantmessenger event can be compiled after a period of time. The period oftime can be predetermined or it can be a period of inactivity on theinstant messenger application.

In one embodiment, identifying instant messenger activity can compriseone or more of identifying instant messenger network activity,identifying a user interface change associated with an instant messengerapplication, and determining that the instant messenger application isactive. In one embodiment, identifying the instant messenger event cancomprise monitoring the instant messenger application for an ongoingperiod of time or analyzing a current state of the instant messengerapplication to identify the instant messenger event. Identifying theinstant messenger event can comprise one or more of identifying adisplay area associated with the instant messenger application anddetermining the content of the display area monitoring operating systemcalls made by the instant messenger application to display text, hookinginto the instant messenger application's notification applicationprogram interface, directly querying the instant messenger application,and extracting text from a display area associated with the instantmessenger application.

In one embodiment, associating an instant messenger event with aconversation can comprise determining if an existing conversationrelevant to the instant messenger event exists, associating the instantmessenger event with an existing conversation if the existingconversation is determined to be relevant to the instant messengerevent, and associating the instant messenger event with a newconversation if no existing conversation is determined to exist that isrelevant to the instant messenger event. In one embodiment, determiningif an existing conversation exists is based at least in part onparticipants in the message and a time the message was received or sent.In one embodiment, a title associated with the conversation can bedetermined.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method 200 that provides a method forcapturing and processing an event. This exemplary method is provided byway of example, as it will be appreciated from the foregoing descriptionof exemplary embodiments there are a variety of ways to carry outmethods in other embodiments of the present invention. The method 200shown in FIG. 2 can be executed or otherwise performed by any of varioussystems. The method 200 is described below as carried out by the system100 shown in FIG. 1 by way of example, and various elements of thesystem 100 are referenced in explaining the example method of FIG. 2.

In 202, the capture processor 124 captures an event. The event can be areal-time event or can be a historical event. The capture processor 124can capture a real-time event by identifying and compiling event dataassociated with the event upon the occurrence of the event. The captureprocessor 124 can capture a historical event, for example, byperiodically crawling the memory 108 or associated data storage deviceof the client device 112 a for previously uncaptured articles orreceiving articles or data from client applications and identifying andcompiling event data associated with the event. The capture processor124 may have separate capture components for each client application,network monitoring, performance data capture, keystroke capture, anddisplay capture. In one embodiment, the capture component can use ageneralized event definition mechanism, such as an event schema that ithas previously defined and registered with the client device 102 a, tocapture or express the event.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 202 for capturing an instantmessenger event. In 302, an instant messenger capture componentidentifies an instant messenger activity. An instant messenger activitycan be any suitable activity that indicates that an instant message hasbeen sent or received by an instant messenger application or that theinstant messenger application is active on the client device. Forexample, an instant messenger activity can be instant message networkactivity, such as the receipt or sending of an instant messenger packet.In one embodiment, the instant messenger capture component can monitorinstant messenger network activity, such as packets sent and received bythe client device 112 a to or from the network 106, and can identifyinstant messenger network activity. Instant messenger network activity,such as instant messenger packets, can be identified by a port on theclient device associated with the packet(s) or by a header or signaturecontained in the packet(s). A single instant messenger message may besplit across multiple packets. The identification of instant messengernetwork activity, such as an instant messenger packet, can indicate thatthe instant messenger application is in use. Alternatively, the capturecomponents can examine the client device for network ports that are inlistening mode to determine the presence of an active instant messengerapplication.

Other types of instant messenger activity can be used to determine thatthe instant messenger application is in use. For example, the instantmessenger capture component can determine that the instant messengerapplication is active by examining the instant messenger application inmemory, such as by detecting the presence of an application with aninstant messenger class name, detecting the presence of an instantmessenger display area output to the display of the client device,detecting that a display area associated with the instant messengerapplication is active or detecting any other suitable change in theclient device user interface associated with the instant messengerapplication.

After the identification of instant messenger activity, in 304, theinstant messenger capture component can attempt to identify an instantmessenger event, such as for example the receipt of an instant messengermessage, the sending of an instant messenger message, or entering textto compose an instant messenger message. The instant messenger capturecomponent can identify an instant messenger event by analyzing ormonitoring the instant messenger application. The instant messengercapture component can monitor the instant messenger application for anongoing period of time to identify an instant messenger event or eventsor can analyze the current state of the instant messenger application toidentify an instant messenger event or events.

In one embodiment, the instant messenger capture component can identifyor locate a display area associated with the instant messengerapplication and determine the content of the display area, such as adisplay window. The instant messenger capture component can, in oneembodiment, monitor operating system calls made by the instant messengerapplication to display text to determine the content of the displayarea. In another embodiment, the instant messenger capture component canhook into the instant messenger application's notification applicationprogram interface (API) to determine the content of the display area. Inanother embodiment, the instant messenger capture component can directlyquery the instant messenger application for the content of the displayarea. The instant messenger capture component can also extract text fromthe display area to determine the content of the display area. In oneembodiment, the instant messenger capture component can analyze visualaspects of the instant messenger application, such as a bitmap, toextract text from it using, for example, optical character recognition.

The instant messenger capture component can monitor logs generated bythe instant messenger application and/or monitor keystrokes entered intothe instant messenger application to determine the content of theinstant messenger application. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, forexample, the instant messenger capture component resides on the clientdevice and captures the instant messenger event on the client device. Inanother embodiment, the instant messenger capture component can be on anetwork device, such as a server, and the instant messenger event can becaptured, indexed and/or stored on the network device.

In 306, the instant messenger capture component can capture theextracted event data associated with the instant messenger event. In oneembodiment, the instant messenger capture component can use an eventschema to express the event data. For example, the event schema for aninstant messenger event can include one or more of sender information,recipient information, time that the message was sent or received, adate that the message was sent or received, and the content of themessage. The event schema can also contain a conversation ID. Asexplained above, a conversation ID can indicate the particularconversation that the instant message is associated with. A conversationcan end with a user logging out or closing the instant messengerapplication or the instant messenger application being inactive for aperiod of time. The conversation ID can be provided by the instantmessenger application. Alternatively, the conversation ID can begenerated by the instant messenger capture component or the indexer 130.In this embodiment, the instant messenger capture component candetermine if instant messenger messages are part of the sameconversation based on some or all of the recipient(s) and sender of themessages, the time in between receipt or sending of messages, andwhether messages are in the same instant messenger application displayarea. For example, if user 112 a sends a message to a user B and thenreceives a message from user B two minutes later, the instant messengercapture component can associate the two messages with the sameconversation and assign each the same or similar conversation ID.

The instant messenger capture component can compile an event upon thereceipt or sending of an instant messenger message. Alternatively, theinstant messenger capture component can compile an event after apredetermined amount of time (for example, 2 minutes) from the receiptor sending of a message or from the last instant messenger event. Inanother embodiment, the instant messenger capture component can compilean event after a period of inactivity. The period of inactivity can varybased on the particular user or can be a predefined period of time.

Returning to FIG. 2, in 204, the capture processor 124 determineswhether the event captured is an indexable event. As explained above,some real-time events may not be indexed (non-indexable real-timeevents). In one embodiment, non-indexable real-time events are used toupdate the current user state and are, for example, examining a portionof an article, changing an article, and closing an article. In thisembodiment, non-indexable events are not indexed or sent for storage bythe indexer 130. Indexable events can be indexable real-time events orhistorical events.

If an indexable event is determined, then, in 206, the event can be sentby the capture processor 124 to the queue 126 with an indication that itis an indexable event. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, indexablereal-time events are sent to both a user state queue and an index queuewithin queue 126 and historical events are sent to the index queuewithin the queue 126. Alternatively, indexable real-time events may notbe sent to the user state queue to save computational time. The captureprocessor 124 can send the event in a form described by an event schemato the queue 126. If the event is determined to be a non-indexableevent, then, in 206, the non-indexable event can be sent by the captureprocessor 124 to the user state queue of the queue 126 with anindication that it is not to be indexed.

In one embodiment, the queue 126 holds the event until a condition ismet, such as the search engine is ready to receive it. Based on theevent data, the event can be prioritized on the queue 126 for handling.For example, historical events are given a lower priority for processingby the queue 126 than real-time events. In one embodiment, when theindexer 130 is ready to process another event, it can retrieve an eventor events from the index queue in the queue 126. The query system 132can retrieve an event or events from the user state queue of the queue126, when it is ready to update the user state. In another embodiment, aqueue is not used and events are sent directly to the search engine 122from the capture processor 124.

In 208, the indexer 130 indexes and stores the event. The indexer 130can retrieve an event from the queue 126 when it is ready to process theevent. In one embodiment, the indexer 130 determines if the event is aduplicate event and if not assigns an Event ID to the event. The indexer130 can also associate the event with related events. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 2, the indexer determines indexable terms associated withthe event, dates and times associated with the event, and other dataassociated with the event from the event schema. The indexer 130 canassociate the Event ID with the indexable terms that are contained inthe index 142. The event can be stored in the database 144 and thecontent of the event can be stored in the repository 146.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method 210 for indexing and storing aninstant messenger event. In 402, the indexer 130 retrieves an instantmessenger event from the queue 126 and determines that the event is aninstant messenger event. In one embodiment, the indexer 130 candetermine if the retrieved instant messenger event is a duplicate of apreviously processed instant messenger event, and if not can assign theinstant messenger event an event ID. The indexer 130 can also parse outindexable terms, including sender and recipient names, times and datesassociated with the event, and a conversation ID from the event schema.In one embodiment, the indexer 130 determines a title associated with aninstant messenger conversation. The indexer 130 can determine the titlebased on the frequency of unique terms appearing in the conversation,the first sentence of the conversation, or the participants and time ofthe conversation. For example, the indexer 130 can select the firstsentence in the first message of the conversation and associate thatsentence as the title of the conversation. In another embodiment, thequery system or other component can do this in a post-processing phase.

In 404, the indexer 130 determines whether the instant messenger eventis associated with a new conversation or if the instant messenger eventis associated with an existing conversation. As explained above, theinstant messenger event can have a conversation ID associated with it.The indexer 130 can compare the conversation ID with previouslyprocessed instant messenger event conversation IDs to determine if thereis a match. If no conversation ID exists, the indexer 130 can determineif the instant messenger event is associated with an existingconversation based on some or all of the recipient(s) and sender of themessage, the time in between receipt or sending of the message andprevious messages, content of the message and messages associated with aconversation, and whether the message is associated with the sameinstant messenger application display area as previous messages. Forexample, if the indexer 130 has previously processed an instantmessenger event where user 112 a sent a message to a user B and is nowprocessing an instant messenger event where user 112 a receives amessage from user B two minutes later after the first event, the indexer130 can associate the two events with the same conversation.Additionally, if user A sends user B a number of messages in a row,these messages may be associated with the same conversation. In otherembodiment, messages between multiple users, such as in a “chat room”can be associated with the same conversation, messages from a user tohimself can be associated with the same conversation, and messages froma user to an automated service or computer can be associated with thesame conversation.

If the indexer 130 determines that the instant messenger event isassociated with a new conversation, then the indexer, in 406, can createa new conversation object. A conversation object can associate aninstant messenger event with related instant messenger events from thesame conversation. Conversations can also be associated with each otherthrough an associated conversation identifier.

If the indexer 130 determines that the instant messenger event isassociated with an existing conversation, then the indexer 130, in 408,can load the relevant conversation object from the database 144 of thedata store 140. By associating instant messenger events with aconversation, a user is able to search for and retrieve complete instantmessenger conversations.

Once the event has been associated with a conversation object andprovided with a conversation object identifier, the instant messengerevent can be stored in the data store 140. In 410, the instant messengermessage is stored in the repository 146. In one embodiment, if theinstant messenger application stores the conversation, a link or anysuitable associated identifier for the location of the storedconversation can be stored in the data store associated with the EventID. In 412, the event and conversation object are stored in the database144. In 414, the indexable terms from the instant message are stored inthe index 142. In one embodiment, the Event ID from the event isassociated with terms in the index 142 that equate to the indexableterms of the event.

The capturing of instant messenger message events that are indexed andstored by the search engine 122 allows the user 112 a to search for andretrieve instant messenger messages on the client device 102 a andallows the search engine to automatically search for instant messengermessages on the client device 102 a. Indexing instant messenger eventswhile they happen without waiting for the end of the conversationprovides the user with access to the event data before the end of theconversation.

The environment shown reflects a client-side search engine architectureembodiment. Other embodiments are possible, such as a stand-alone clientdevice or a network search engine.

While the above description contains many specifics, these specificsshould not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention,but merely as exemplifications of the disclosed embodiments. Thoseskilled in the art will envision many other possible variations that arewithin the scope of the invention.

1. A method of processing instant messenger events associated with aninstant messenger application, comprising: determining a length of timeof inactivity of a user after which to compile an instant messengerevent associated with the user, the determined length of time beingspecific to an identity of the user; monitoring a current length of timeof inactivity of the user; responsive at least in part to the monitoredcurrent length of time of inactivity exceeding the determined length oftime of inactivity, capturing an instant messenger event associated withthe user by compiling event data associated with at least one instantmessenger message; and indexing at least some of the event dataassociated with the instant messenger message.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: associating the instant messenger event with aconversation; receiving a search query; and identifying the conversationas relevant to the search query.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: determining if an existing conversation relevant to theinstant messenger event exists; associating the instant messenger eventwith an existing conversation if the existing conversation is determinedto be relevant to the instant messenger event; and associating theinstant messenger event with a new conversation if no existingconversation is determined to exist that is relevant to the instantmessenger event.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event datacomprises one or more of sender data, recipient data, a time associatedwith the event, a date associated with the event, and content from theinstant messenger message.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein indexing atleast some of the event data comprises associating an event ID with theevent and associating the event ID with at least some of the event data.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the instant messenger event iscaptured on a client device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theinstant messenger event is captured on a network device.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein capturing an instant messenger event comprises:identifying an activity associated with the instant messengerapplication on a client device; identifying the instant messenger eventbased on the activity; and compiling the instant messenger event from atleast some of the event data.
 9. The method of claim 8, whereincompiling the instant messenger event is performed upon the sending orreceipt of the instant messenger message using the instant messagingapplication.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: identifyinginstant messenger activity involving a change in a user interfaceassociated with the instant messenger application on a client device;wherein the compiling of the event data comprises identifying an instantmessenger event based at least in part on identifying the user interfacechange.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying instantmessenger activity further comprises identifying instant messengernetwork activity.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein event data is alsodetermined from the instant messenger network activity.
 13. The methodof claim 10, wherein identifying instant messenger activity comprisesdetermining that the instant messenger application is active.
 14. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the compiling of the event data furthercomprises monitoring the instant messenger application for an ongoingperiod of time.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the compiling of theevent data further comprises analyzing a current state of the instantmessenger application to identify the instant messenger event.
 16. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the compiling of the event data furthercomprises identifying a display area associated with the instantmessenger application and determining the content of the display area.17. The method of claim 10, wherein the compiling of the event datafurther comprises one or more of monitoring operating system calls madeby the instant messenger application to display text, hooking into theinstant messenger application's notification application programinterface, and directly querying the instant messenger application. 18.The method of claim 10, wherein the compiling of the event data furthercomprises extracting text from a display area associated with theinstant messenger application.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein thecompiling of the event data further is performed upon the sending orreceipt of an instant messenger message.
 20. The method of claim 10,further comprising associating the instant messenger event with aconversation.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein associating theinstant messenger event with a conversation comprises: determining if anexisting conversation relevant to the instant messenger event exists;associating the instant messenger event with an existing conversation ifthe existing conversation is determined to be relevant to the instantmessenger event; and associating the instant messenger event with a newconversation if no existing conversation is determined to exist that isrelevant to the instant messenger event.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein determining if an existing conversation exists is based at leastin part on participants in the message and a time the message wasreceived or sent.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprisingdetermining a title associated with the conversation.
 24. The method ofclaim 10, wherein event data comprises one or more of sender data,recipient data, a time associated with the event, a date associated withthe event, and content from the instant messenger message associatedwith the event.
 25. The method of claim 10, wherein event data comprisesa conversation ID.
 26. The method of claim 10, further comprisingidentifying an instant messenger event at least in part by hooking intothe instant messenger application's notification application programinterface.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined length oftime of inactivity represents a time from the last receipt of a messageor sending of a message by the user.
 28. The method of claim 1, whereinthe determined length of time of inactivity represents a time from thelast instant messenger event associated with the user.
 29. Acomputer-readable storage medium for processing instant messengerevents, the computer-readable storage medium containing executableprogram code, comprising: program code for determining a length of timeof inactivity of a user after which to compile an instant messengerevent associated with the user, the determined length of time beingspecific to an identity of the user; program code for monitoring acurrent length of time of inactivity of the user; program code forcapturing, responsive at least in part to the monitored current lengthof time of inactivity exceeding the determined length of time, aninstant messenger event associated with the user by compiling event dataassociated with at least one instant messenger message; and program codefor indexing at least some of the event data associated with the instantmessenger message.
 30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29,further comprising: program code for associating the instant messengerevent with a conversation; program code for receiving a search query;and program code for identifying the conversation as relevant to thesearch query.
 31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30,further comprising: program code for determining if an existingconversation relevant to the instant messenger event exists; programcode for associating the instant messenger event with an existingconversation if the existing conversation is determined to be relevantto the instant messenger event; and program code for associating theinstant messenger event with a new conversation if no existingconversation is determined to exist that is relevant to the instantmessenger event.
 32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29,wherein the event data comprises one or more of sender data, recipientdata, a time associated with the event, a date associated with theevent, and content from the instant messenger message.
 33. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein program code forindexing at least some of the event data comprises associating an eventID with the event and associating the event ID with at least some of theevent data.
 34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29,wherein the instant messenger event is captured on a client device. 35.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the instantmessenger event is captured on a network device.
 36. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein capturing aninstant messenger event comprises: program code for identifying anactivity associated with an instant messenger application on a clientdevice; program code for identifying the instant messenger event basedon the activity; and program code for compiling the instant messengerevent from at least some of the event data.
 37. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 36, wherein compiling the instant messengerevent is performed upon the sending or receipt of the instant messengermessage using the instant messaging application.
 38. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 29, the executable programcode further comprising: program code for identifying instant messengeractivity involving a change in a user interface associated with theinstant messenger application on a client device; wherein the compilingof the event data comprises identifying an instant messenger event basedat least in part on extracting text from a display area associated withthe instant messenger application.
 39. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 38, wherein program code for identifying instantmessenger activity further comprises identifying instant messengernetwork activity.
 40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 39,wherein event data is also determined from the instant messenger networkactivity.
 41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, whereinprogram code for identifying instant messenger activity comprisesidentifying a user interface change associated with an instant messengerapplication.
 42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38,wherein program code for identifying instant messenger activitycomprises determining that the instant messenger application is active.43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein thecompiling of the event data comprises monitoring the instant messengerapplication for an ongoing period of time.
 44. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 38, wherein the compiling of the event datafurther comprises analyzing a current state of the instant messengerapplication to identify the instant messenger event.
 45. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein the compiling ofthe event data further comprises identifying a display area associatedwith the instant messenger application and determining the content ofthe display area.
 46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38,wherein the compiling of the event data further comprises one or more ofmonitoring operating system calls made by the instant messengerapplication to display text, hooking into the instant messengerapplication's notification application program interface, and directlyquerying the instant messenger application.
 47. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 38, wherein compiling the instant messengerevent is performed upon the sending or receipt of an instant messengermessage.
 48. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 38, furthercomprising program code for associating the instant messenger event witha conversation.
 49. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 48,wherein associating the instant messenger event with a conversationcomprises: program code for determining if an existing conversationrelevant to the instant messenger event exists; program code forassociating the instant messenger event with an existing conversation ifthe existing conversation is determined to be relevant to the instantmessenger event; and program code for associating the instant messengerevent with a new conversation if no existing conversation is determinedto exist that is relevant to the instant messenger event.
 50. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 49, wherein determining if anexisting conversation exists is based at least in part on participantsin the message and a time the message was received or sent.
 51. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 49, further comprising programcode for determining a title associated with the conversation.
 52. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein event datacomprises one or more of sender data, recipient data, a time associatedwith the event, a date associated with the event, and content from theinstant messenger message associated with the event.
 53. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 38, wherein event datacomprises a conversation ID.
 54. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 38, wherein the extraction of the text from the display areacomprises performing optical character recognition on an image.
 55. Amethod of processing instant messenger events, comprising: determining apredefined period of instant messenger inactivity of a user after whichto compile an instant messenger event associated with the user, thedetermined length of time being specific to an identity of the user;monitoring the instant messenger application to determine event dataassociated with an instant messenger message; monitoring a currentperiod of inactivity of the user; responsive at least in part to themonitored current period of inactivity of the user exceeding thedetermined predefined period of instant messenger activity, compiling aninstant messenger event from at least some of the event data;determining if an existing conversation relevant to the instantmessenger event exists; associating the instant messenger event with anexisting conversation if the existing conversation is determined to berelevant to the instant messenger event; and associating the instantmessenger event with a new conversation if no existing conversation isdetermined to exist that is relevant to the instant messenger event; andindexing and storing the instant messenger event.